ASCE DSA Podcast Series

This episode launches the AI in Construction: Value of Data series, where we interview recipients of the Best Data Award and explore how high-quality datasets are created, shared, and used to advance AI applications in construction.

In this first episode, we speak with Dr. Fernanda Leite, Vice President for Research and Joe J. King Professor in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, about the development and sharing of the 3Dfacilities dataset.

Dr. Leite shares insights into the motivation behind creating high-quality construction and built environment datasets, practical challenges in data collection and curation, and the importance of benchmarking, reproducibility, and long-term data sustainability. The conversation also highlights broader lessons for researchers, students, and practitioners working at the intersection of BIM, construction engineering, digital twins, and artificial intelligence.

About Our Guest

Dr. Fernanda Leite is Vice President for Research and Joe J. King Professor in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on building information modeling, construction engineering, resilient systems engineering, and the integration of 3D modeling and artificial intelligence to support sustainable and adaptable infrastructure. Her leadership and research have been highly influential in advancing data-driven innovation in the built environment.

Special thanks to Dr. Leite for sharing her time, expertise, and insights with the ASCE DSA community.

In this episode of Closing the Loop, host Yuqing Hu sits down with Kimon Onuma, one of the most influential thinkers behind BIM, interoperability, and digital collaboration in the AEC industry, to examine what it truly takes to make AI work in practice.

Drawing on decades of experience, from early BIMStorm experiments to today’s conversations around digital twins, Kimon challenges the assumption that AI adoption is primarily a technical problem. Instead, he argues that information logic, data structure, and benchmarking culture are the real bottlenecks holding the industry back.

The conversation explores where AI can deliver real value today, where the industry is fundamentally unprepared, and why AEC still lacks the equivalent of “ImageNet moments” that catalyzed progress in other fields.

The episode concludes with a forward-looking reflection on what an AI-mature AEC ecosystem could look like ten years from now, technically, institutionally, and culturally.

About Our Guest

Kimon Onuma, FAIA, is a pioneer in BIM, digital twins, and data-informed design. As founder and president of ONUMA, Inc., he has led the industry in interoperable, information-centric workflows for over three decades and contributed to national standards shaping the future of digital infrastructure. More Information can be found https://www.onuma-bim.com/about

Modeling and Planning Urban Systems with Novel Data Sources by Dr. Marta Gonzalez.

Cybersecurity in Construction 4.0 by Dr. Ziga Turk

This episode features the Purdue team working on safe and productive construction excavation. Guest speakers include Yuxi Zhang, Zirui Hong, and Yeji Hong, all of them are PhD students working with Prof. Hubo Cai.

SmartDig is a system developed by the Purdue team to detect and visualize the underground structures and utility lines, and provide real-time guidance to excavator operators. The system leverages ground penetrating radar, or GPR, advanced algorithms for signal processing and radargram interpretation, and knowledge base to help excavation operators gain a holistic understanding of the operation. Such a system will make the construction excavation safe and productive, and has the potential to eliminate utility strikes that kill hundreds and cost billions every year in the United States.

All work is funded through multiple NSF grants.

This podcast features Chih-Shen Cheng and Dr. Amir Behzadan from Construction Science at Texas A&M to discuss the features of their award-winning dataset, DoriaNET. DoriaNET is a UAV-based video dataset that documents the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. It is the 2nd place winner of ASCE DSA's Data Sharing Competition in 2022.

This episode features Prof. Pingbo Tang from Carnegie Mellon University. The theme is on human technology in the context of infrastructure operation.

This episode features Prof. Jing (Eric) Du from University of Florida. The topic is virtual reality, or VR.